Postdoc position in computational/biological vision (learning)

[John G. Harris]

One (or possibly two) postdoctoral positions are available for one or two
years in computational vision starting September 1993 (flexible).  The
postdoc will work in Lucia Vaina's laboratory at Boston University, College
of Engineering, to conduct research in learning the direction in global
motion.  The researchers currently involved in this project are Lucia M.
Vaina, John Harris, Charlie Chubb, Bob Sekuler, and Federico Girosi.

Requirements are PhD in CS or related area with experience in visual
modeling or psychophysics.  Knowledge of biologically relevant neural models
is desirable.  Stipend ranges from $28,000 to $35,000 depending upon
qualifications.  Deadline for application is March 1, 1993.  Two letter of
recommendation, description of current research and an up to date CV are
required.

In the research we combine computational psychophysics, neural networks
modeling and analog VLSI to study visual learning specifically applied to
direction in global motion. The global motion problem requires estimation of
the direction and magnitude of coherent motion in the presence of noise.  We
are proposing a set of psychophysical experiments in which the subject, or
the network must integrate noisy, spatially local motion information from
across the visual field in order to generate a response.  We will study the
classes of neural networks which best approximate the pattern of learning
demonstrated in psychophysical tasks. We will explore Hebbian learning,
multilayer perceptrons (e.g. backpropagation), cooperative networks, Radial
Basis Function and Hyper-Basis Functions. The various strategies and their
implementation will be evaluated on the basis of their performance and their
biological plausibility.

For more details, contact Prof. Lucia M. Vaina at vaina at buenga.bu.edu or
lmv at ai.mit.edu.